NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully returns to Earth after moon mission

News, US December 14, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

American space agency NASA’s Orion capsule splashed down safely in the Pacific after making a 26-day long journey orbiting around the moon. The spacecraft entered the Earth on December 12, 2022.

The capsule contains NASA’s next-generation astronaut ship. NASA plans to use the Orion capsule and the new ship to put its astronauts back on the moon for the first time in almost 50 years.

After delays, overrun costs, and several trips between the hangar and the launch pad, NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket carrying the Orion capsule finally flew off on November 16, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, U.S. Orion spent 25.5 days in space before returning to Earth, completing the Artemis I mission.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashes down in the Pacific after completing a successful Artemis I moon mission pic.twitter.com/ferj900xlt
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NASA’s Artemis Project maiden flight was a test flight with no human onboard. Artemis 1 carried the Orion capsule with three test dummies fitted with an array of sensors to measure and monitor the vibrations, cosmic rays, and other conditions during the flights. Artemis 1 traveled for almost three weeks before it reached close to the moon’s orbit and launched the Orion capsule. The capsule orbited around the moon before returning to Earth and falling into the Pacific Ocean.

After the success of Artemis 1 and the Orion capsule, NASA is planning to start even more complex missions with Orion which includes an attempt to put humans back on the lunar surface. This was last achieved exactly 50 years ago to the day by the crew of Apollo 17. The agency’s new project is called Artemis is named after a character from Greek mythology, who was the sister of Apollo.

*^{NASA’s Orion spacecraft flew past the moon on December 5, 2022. (Image Credit: NASA)}*

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that “Now, we are doing that again, but for a different purpose because of this time we go back to the Moon to learn to live, to work, to invent, to create, to go on out into the cosmos to further explore. The plan is to get ready to go with humans to Mars late in the decade of the 2030s, and then even further beyond.”

On its journey back to the earth, Orion reached speeds up to 40,000 km/h and made initial contact with the earth’s atmosphere at such high speeds. A robust heat shield is required to prevent the ship from tearing itself apart as it pushes up against the air and temperatures reach close to 3000 degrees centigrade. The protective layer on the underside of Orion is a new design from a previous craft, and NASA had to be sure it was effective before risking the lives of astronauts on future missions.